Professional zooms may have a ‘constant’ maximum aperture of f/2.8 at any zoom setting (a handful have even wider apertures), but more affordable ‘consumer’ zooms are more likely to have a ...

Explore the best wide-angle lenses for the most popular camera systems used for capturing incredible photos and videos of the night sky.

And widening my aperture to f/1.8 was a sure-fire way of keeping my ISO in check. But shooting wide open presents a string of other potential problems. Firstly, every lens has a sweet spot, an ...

A wider aperture will benefit low-light photography, thus improving night modes and low-light conditions. It could also let users manually add shallow depth-of-field effects to photos, like portraits.

A portrait lens—usually a prime (non-zoom) lens with a wide aperture and a focal length between 70mm and 105mm (though some people would extend that out to 135mm)—is the best choice.

With a wider aperture, select a slow shutter speed to, again, allow more time for light to enter. However, since auroras move quickly, the shutter speed may need to be adjusted to keep the image ...